Deep Island Hawaiian Rum, Our Drink of (Last) Week!

Recently, the wifey and I honeymooned in Maui—just a quick getaway, didn't do the Road to Hana and definitely didn't go see the sunrise at Haleakala (overrated, say the locals). Instead, I went hunting for booze. I found a macadamia liqueur that I'll crack open come summer, got fabulous cocktails at Migrant and Morimoto Maui at the Andaz (though didn't stay there—what do you think I am, cool?), and even visited Hawaii Sea Spirits Organic Farm, 40 acres of bliss in Upcountry.

Among the sugarcane fields stands a little distillery that makes Ocean Vodka (available at Hi-Times!) and the fabulous Deep Island Hawaiian Rum. The Drink Made from heritage sugarcane and water from a deep aquifer that somehow traces its heritage back to Greenland, Deep Island rum is Hawaii in a bottle: fruity, mystical, and far more complex than its cheery surface. And it smells like banana—perfect neat, on the rocks, or a killer mai tai. Only problem? Currently only available in Hawaii—but I'm sure Mr. Hi-Time is working to rectify this as we speak...

Gustavo Arellano is the editor of OC Weekly, author of the syndicated column "¡Ask a Mexican!", and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He started at the paper with an angry, fake letter to the editor and went from there—only in Anacrime!